Waterloo to Anywhere

WATERLOO TO ANYWHERE is Carl Barat's first post-Libertines album, and features his brand-new band. Well, his sort-of-new band. In Dirty Pretty Things, he is joined by former Libertines drummer Gary Powell, and by guitarist John Rossomando and bassist Didz Hammond, both of whom played with the Libertines on tour. So they are to a large extent a continuation of the Libertines, without tabloid fixture Pete Doherty.
Perhaps because the creative controls are in one person's hands, the album rings with a signature sound, filtering tuneful melodies that range from ska to sea shanty through unfastidious, slashing guitars. The bass hits like a ray gun set on pulse, and the drums keep it all from spinning out of control, but only just. The album begins with "Deadwood," a hyperkinetic vamp that swings on a set of grimy riffs. "The Gentry Cove" sets a folk melody over ska rhythms, while "The Enemy" is a mid-tempo rocker that contains some of Barat's finest songwriting. On one level it seems to be an angry song about the breakup of his former band, but the song concludes with the almost whispered lines, "All you need's a gentle heart / To see you through the endless dark."